[vooch]

The difficulty with rail in the US is the lavish subsidies for mass motoring.

Gas Taxes and fees pay for less than 1/2 the costs of highways.

It hard to compete when the other guy gets a 50% subsidy

[hanamizu]

The difficulty with rail in the US is the lavish subsidies for mass motoring.

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Well, I know that some gas taxes go to subsidize light rail and bike paths and the Interstate Highway system was passed as both a infrastructure/defense matter. The fact is that people prefer driving for shorter distances and flying for longer (even with the TSA headaches). I seriously doubt that many will willingly trade their cars for a train trip even if the gas taxes were doubled. L.A. to SF is an 8 hour drive. High speed rail promises 3 hours. Airplane is what, 90 minutes?

The only places I think high-speed rail can work is between heavily-travelled population centers that are not that far apart. There was some talk of an L.A. to Las Vegas train, but the last I heard, they gave up on the idea.